TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Gisele Evrard
The overall aim of the training for trainers was to enable participant trainers to competently
design, implement and evaluate quality European youth training activities putting forward
the values underlying European youth work.
The political and strategic objectives of the Training for Trainers were:
- To serve the development of a coordinated approach for training trainers in the
youth field in Europe;
- To enlarge the existing group of experienced trainers able to develop and
implement quality training activities in the European youth field, and to support
the further development of the existing European trainers’ pools;
- To contribute to the development of a profile of youth trainers in Europe by
fostering the recognition of essential competences of trainers in the youth and non
formal education field;
- To develop and use innovative concepts and practices for training trainers in
non-formal education across Europe;
- To highlight the values underlying European youth work and to reflect on how they
can best be promoted in training activities;
- To contribute to the quality and sustainability of the youth programmes of the
European Commission, the Council of Europe and their respective partners;
- To make use of the existing resources of these stakeholders for a common aim and
to create synergies;
- To exemplify the beneficial interaction of youth research, youth policy and
practice and its importance in the design, implementation and follow-up of training
activities.
Learning objectives of the training course:
TALE contributed to the personal & professional development of participant-trainers, so
that, within the frame of European youth work, they are able to competently plan,
implement and evaluate training activities in different fields and contexts, based
on an adequate needs analysis and using appropriate methodologies.
This implied that participant-trainers had to be able:
- To guide and facilitate intercultural group processes, and to deal effectively
with ambiguity and change;
- To co-operate in international teams of trainers and to manage a training project
effectively;
- To create an appropriate learning environment, by reflecting about learning to learn, different learning styles and how to address them in training;
- To understand the current realities of the European youth field (in link with youth
policy, youth research) and to put training activities into this perspective;
- To engage with the broader institutional framework of training activities at European level and to take this framework into account when designing training activities; to find a common ground between the needs and interests of the institutional partner and those of the participants.
There were 30 participants from 27 countries. All of them were trainers with relevant experience in the youth field needing to further develop their
competences, in order to support their personal and professional development as trainers
able to conduct activities at European level.
The preparatory team has included Team of 6 trainers from 6 countries, 1 documentalist, external evaluator and 5 representatives of the organising institutions and stakeholders.
The team of trainers consisted of 6 members from 5 different countries.
The methodology of the TALE course features were based on experiential learning,
constructivist learning and transformative learning. At the intersection of these three
approaches, the focus was on the learner and not just the topic concerned. The nature of
TALE being a generic training of trainers, the focus is on the participant-trainers, their
learning paths and their process of learning to learn.
- Competence profile for trainers at European level
- Competence Improvement Map (which includes self-assessment of competence and personal development plan)
- 29 individual learning projects developed by participant-trainers
- 13 training projects developed by participant-trainers (individually or in terms)
Full member of the educational team responsible for the design, implementation and evaluation of the course.